In a patient suffering from urinary incontinence, for example, stress urinary incontinence, urine leakage (involuntary urination) occurs due to an abnormal pressure exerted during a normal exercise or by, for example, laughing, coughing, or sneezing. This can be attributable, for example, to loosening of a pelvic floor muscle, which is a muscle for supporting a urethra, caused by childbirth.
For treatment of urinary incontinence, surgical therapy can be effective. For example, a tape-shaped implant called a “sling” can be placed indwelling in the body to support the urethra (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,911,003). In order to put a sling indwelling in the body, an operator incises a vagina with a surgical knife, dissects a biological tissue (living body tissue) between the urethra and the vagina, and provides communication between the exfoliated biological tissue site and an exterior through an obturator foramen by using a puncture needle. Then, in such a state, the sling is placed indwelling in the body.
If a vaginal wall is once incised, however, there can be a fear that the sling might be exposed to an inside of the vagina via a wound caused by the incision. There can also be a fear that complications might occur which can be caused by an infection via the wound. In addition, since the vaginal wall is incised, an invasiveness of the procedure can be rather great and patient burden can be relatively heavy. In addition, there can be a fear that the urethra or the like can be damaged by a surgical knife in the course of the procedure by the operator, and there can be a fear that the operator himself might damage his fingertip by the surgical knife.
Further, when an implant is placed indwelling in a living body, there may arise a case, depending on a length of the implant, where part of the implant can located near the living body surface, such that the patient may experience pain.